The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) has termed the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council’s decisions on decriminalisation and rationalisation of enforcement powers among the most significant institutional reforms in India’s transition towards trust-based economic governance.In an assessment of the decisions taken at the Council’s meeting on October 8, CII said their importance extends well beyond taxation. The decisions demonstrate how the Centre and states can work together on difficult reforms involving enforcement powers, revenue protection and taxpayer rights, it added.The key measures include the proposed removal of arrest powers through the omission of Section 69 of the CGST Act, a fivefold increase in the monetary threshold for prosecution from ?1 crore to ?5 crore, narrowing of specified offences under Section 132, and rationalisation of imprisonment provisions with greater judicial discretion in sentencing. These require legislative amendments and are targeted for ...